


You and Me: Against the World

by Mikauzoran



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste: Factchecker, Adrien Steps Up, Adrien is the Founder, Emotional Support, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Initially One-Sided Identity Reveal, Lady Noir - Freeform, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Marichat, Marinette protection squad, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Romance, Snuggling, Supporting Marinette, Supportive Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, The Bullying Situation is Taken Seriously and Dealt With, The Class Learns from Their Mistakes and Gets Better, adrienette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikauzoran/pseuds/Mikauzoran
Summary: When Ladybug seeks comfort in her partner and tells him about the bullying situation at school, Chat Noir realizes her identity, and Adrien realizes that he’s completely mishandled the Lila and Marinette situation.In which Ladybug and Chat Noir snuggle on rooftops, and Adrien makes it his mission in life to be a one-man Marinette Protection Squad. No one messes with the two girls he loves most…especially now that he knows that they’re the same girl.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 106
Kudos: 1733
Collections: Favourites (BQuincy), Lila Anon Support Group





	You and Me: Against the World

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I'm Mikau. For those of you new here, it's lovely to meet you! For old friends, welcome back! Thank you all for checking out this story. The bullying situation with Lila and the way Marinette's friends react make me really sad, and I wanted a story where it all was made better...so I wrote that story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it. ^.^
> 
> Come talk to me on Tumblr: https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/

Lately, the need to run was overwhelming.

She went out to the rooftops every evening at dusk, her feet flying over the blue-grey tiles. She felt weightless and free as she jumped the gaps between roofs and swung on her yoyo, feeling the wind rush in her ears.

It was tranquility and peace. No one could catch her up there.

Ladybug came with her own problems and responsibilities that often made her feel like she was drowning, but even those felt manageable when compared with everything Marinette was dealing with at the moment.

The runs helped her to clear her head and fight off the anxiety that was growing day by day. They tired her out so that she could get to sleep.

Unbidden, Lila popped into her thoughts: Lila’s superior laugh, Lila playing the victim, garnering sympathy, turning everyone against Marinette. Hadn’t Lila said that she’d do it? Take all of Marinette’s friends away?

Marinette hadn’t thought it would be possible, but…here they were. Lila had driven Marinette out. She couldn’t hang out with her friends, attend any group events without Lila showing up and making Marinette wish she hadn’t come.

She’d stopped coming.

And no one seemed to notice.

Ladybug threw her yoyo but misjudged the distance, missing her target by half a meter.

She was falling, too close to the ground to attempt another throw to catch herself.

Not enough time.

She braced for impact.

It didn’t come. At least, not the kind of impact she expected. Instead of cold ground knocking the breath out of her lungs, she collided with another body, snatching her from the air and changing her trajectory.

“You alright, Milady?” Chat Noir set her down gently on a roof not far from the Hôtel des Invalides, its golden dome still gleaming in the last shreds of daylight.

She nodded, attempting to find her equilibrium.

Chat Noir pursed his lips, hesitating. He opened his mouth but, ultimately, chickened out. “…The sunset is lovely tonight.”

Ladybug turned to really look at the stripes of tangerine sky fading into a lemon yellow which dissolved into the Prussian blue of the night as the sun dipped under the horizon behind the Trocadero.

“I hadn’t noticed,” she breathed, focusing on the colors, trying to find the exact spot where orange became yellow and yellow became blue and blue turned to grey.

She’d been so antsy waiting for the sun to set so that she could go out running that she’d completely missed the dazzling beauty of nature’s nightly light show.

Chat Noir took a seat, propping his elbows on his knees and his face in his palms.

Ladybug joined him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at her, studying the pallor of her cheeks, the fatigue and apathy in her features.

He knew she was stressed. He’d witnessed it slowly building over the previous few months, and he’d done his best to be there for her. She put on a brave face, carrying on without complaint, but he could see the toll the stress was taking on her. There was so little he could do, and he felt completely helpless.

“Are you okay?” he asked again in a whisper.

“Mmhm. I just…missed. I was thinking about something, and I didn’t judge the throw right. I’m fine,” she quickly explained it away, shrugging it off as if it were nothing.

He bit the inside of his cheek, turning his head slightly, looking at her outright instead of sneaking glances. “Buginette…I wasn’t talking just about right now. I meant…you run by my window every night.”

She gave a start, head snapping around so she could gape at him.

“I see you running, and you look like the devil’s chasing you or something. I’m kind of worried,” he confessed.

She looked away with a snort. “I don’t make a big deal of you dropping by random civilians’ balconies when you need to get out of the house, so I don’t see why I should get the third degree from you about my running habbit.”

Chat winced, and Ladybug realized that maybe she’d overreacted.

“I’m sorry, Chat Noir,” she sighed. “That was uncalled for. I know you’re just worried about me, and I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m just…” She shook her head, dropping her gaze to the rooftiles.

It took Chat a minute to decide how to respond. “…Did Marinette tell you that I’d started visiting her from time to time?”

She shook her head. “I was out and saw you two a couple of times.”

“Oh. Okay.” Somehow, it felt better to know that Marinette hadn’t said anything. He kind of liked having a little secret.

They fell back into silence as they turned their attention to the sky once more.

“…It’s just Marinette, you know,” Chat Noir added after a minute.

Ladybug jumped. “W-What?”

“Whom I visit,” Chat clarified. “I don’t go visiting random civilians…just her.”

“Because she gives you pastries?” Ladybug snickered, giving his shoulder a teasing bump with her own.

Chat sighed, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. “Because I’m a crappy friend most of the time. I’m not really free to be there for her much as a civilian, so I sneak out in the evenings and come to hang out, check on her.”

Ladybug sat very still as she realized that she knew Chat Noir as a civilian. “Why…would you need to check on Marinette?” Her voice sounded awkward, slightly panicked.

Chat shrugged, dropping an arm so that his forearm rested on his thigh, his hand dangling between his knees. He leaned hard into his other palm, still cupping his cheek. “She’s been stressed lately, and there doesn’t seem like anything I can do to help. I’m starting to get stressed out, honestly, between the two of you. I’m worried a lot.”

“Oh, Minou,” she sighed. “You don’t have to worry about me, Chat Noir.” She scooted in closer, letting their sides press together from shoulder to knee.

“Don’t I?” he laughed humorlessly. “You’re unbelievably tough, My Lady, and I don’t mean to belittle you by saying this, but, under that suit, you’re just a teenager. You’re dealing with some serious crap that I think even adults would struggle to handle. I don’t think I’m wrong to be concerned.”

Her head dropped to his shoulder. “…You’re really sweet, you know? Thank you, Chat Noir.”

He hesitated a minute or so before asking, “…Is there anything I can do to help?”

For the first time, she considered it. She imagined opening up to him, telling him about things at school, telling him how alone she felt, how she didn’t feel like she had anyone to go to for help or advice, how the secrecy was smothering her, how her friends had all deserted her.

And then she thought about how he would feel, hearing her say that she had no one. It would hurt him. He’d feel like she didn’t trust him, like she didn’t think she could rely on him.

Maybe she should just start relying on him now, let him in, see if he could help.

She was silent for so long, lost in thought, that he spoke again before she had finished with her contemplations: “I realize that maybe I can’t do anything concrete. Like, I probably can’t solve your problems for you, but if you want to talk about it…I’m always willing to listen, Ladybug. Sometimes talking makes you feel better, even if it doesn’t solve anything, so…do you want to talk to me about what you were thinking about when you fell out of the sky earlier?”

“I…” The words evaporated as all of those horrible feelings about Lila and Marinette’s friends came rushing back like a tsunami.

She choked, and the tears started.

“Hey,” Chat Noir cooed, turning in toward her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and nuzzling her hair. “It’s okay. You’re all right.”

“I…I’m being bullied. At school,” she hiccupped.

Chat Noir pulled back slightly to blink down at her, thinking he hadn’t heard right. “You’re…what?”

Ladybug swallowed. “Being bullied.”

“You? _You_ are being bullied?” he repeated incredulously.

“It’s true!” she snapped, pulling away from him. “No one believes me, but it’s true!”

“Whoa! Hold on!” He reached out for her, pulling her back in. “My Lady, I didn’t say I didn’t believe you. I just… I’m sorry. It’s just really hard to imagine anyone being able to bully you what with the way you always stand up to Papillon and his akumas. I just can’t wrap my head around you not being in control of a situation. I’m sorry. I _do_ believe you. I’m really sorry.”

Half-placated, Ladybug gave a soft snort and let herself lean into her partner once more. “It’s a difficult position,” she mumbled. “The girl who’s bullying me…we both like the same guy. I’m friends with him. He doesn’t see me like that, but I guess my friendship with him makes her feel like she’s losing because he doesn’t like her. A couple months ago, she caught me alone in the bathroom, and she…”

Ladybug shuddered.

Chat Noir gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“She threatened me. She-She said that she was going to make everyone hate me. I thought that was impossible, that my friends would never take her word over mine, but…I was wrong,” she laughed ruefully.

“What?” he gasped softly, unable to believe his ears.

Ladybug shrugged. “She’s such a liar, Chat Noir. She lies to everyone about _everything_. It’s the most ridiculous stuff too like, like, knowing famous movie directors or having designed clothes for celebrities or rescuing a rock star’s kitten from being run over by an airplane.”

Chat’s heart sank as he remembered sitting in class and hearing something about Lila and Jagged Stone’s kitten. It felt like all the heat had been sapped from his body.

“Ridiculous stuff like that that anyone with a braincell could check,” Ladybug continued in a rant, not noticing how still her partner had become. “But my friends don’t check. It’s like she’s got some kind of stupid-beam that comes out of her mouth and makes people instantly believe her. No one thinks to question a word she says, so everyone loves her, and when I try to tell them what a fake, what a terrible person she is, they think I’m being petty and jealous because everyone knows we like the same guy.”

Chat sucked in a quick breath as it occurred to him that the guy in question whom Lila was pursuing was none other than Adrien Agreste. If Chat was right and the liar Ladybug was talking about was Lila, that meant that Ladybug liked Adrien too.

“So, I’ve slowly stopped hanging out with everybody. I just can’t stand being around her. I…I get panic attacks. Small ones, but…I’m scared of her. Just her presence is bad enough to terrify me. It stresses me out because I always have to be on my guard. I can’t relax because I never know what she’s planning, how she’s going to try to humiliate me or make me look bad and turn everyone against me.” She snuggled in closer, slotting the top of her head under his chin.

“I’m scared, Chat Noir,” she whispered, voice wavering like a child who’d woken from a nightmare and still wasn’t completely convinced that it wasn’t all real.

“Oh, My Lady,” he breathed, squeezing her tighter. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m scared that she’s going to get me akumatized.” She voiced the thought so softly that it was barely audible, like she was afraid that if anyone heard it would become real.

“That’s not going to happen,” he insisted, his fingers gripping her arm hard.

“It almost did. After she threatened me in the bathroom,” she informed somberly. “I saw the butterfly in time, and I was able to calm down, so it didn’t get me…. The second time, she came up with this whole heinous scheme to get me expelled from school, and I…I didn’t see the butterfly coming the second time.”

Chat Noir released his hold, pulling back with his hands on her shoulders so that he could see her face. Suddenly, those ocean blue eyes and cute pigtails looked awfully familiar.

Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part, but Ladybug’s story sounded remarkably like Lila and Marinette. He couldn’t be sure. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. Besides, he had far more important things to do at the moment than speculate on Ladybug’s identity.

His Lady needed him to get his head in the game.

“What are you saying?” he asked, voice stretched thin like taffy about to break.

“I _was_ akumatized.” She smiled miserably, letting the tears parade unhindered down her cheeks. “I was about to give Papillon my earrings, tell him my identity. It was pure dumb luck that the connection broke before I could. I’m so scared that she’s going to do something like that again. I’m afraid my luck is running out.”

“Ladybug…I…Have you told anyone about what this girl is doing? Does anyone else know? You’re sure that there’s not someone who believes you?” he pressed, trying to ascertain her circumstances. Maybe, if there were an adult at her school whom she trusted and could go to…

Ladybug looked down at the roof and shook her head. “I mean…there is one person who knows she’s a liar, but…”

“Can you maybe talk to them about this?” Chat urged. “If you had backup, maybe you could get more people on your side. Maybe you could go to your principal and tell them about the problem. Maybe, if you have this other person’s support, you’ll feel less alone, you’ll feel like the situation’s less hopeless.”

She flinched. “He’s…he’s not someone I can really rely upon.”

Chat Noir’s heart sank.

“It’s the guy I like,” Ladybug mumbled sullenly. “He knows that the girl who’s bullying me is a liar, but he’s still friends with her. He doesn’t like her, but he still hangs out with her all the time.”

The hair on the back of Chat’s neck stood up straight, and he started hoping against all hope that he’d been mistaken and that this wasn’t Marinette, and that Adrien wasn’t the useless guy Ladybug couldn’t rely on.

“He stands up for me when he is there, but he’s not around a lot,” Ladybug sighed, shaking her head wearily. “He told me once that she’s not hurting anyone, so it was okay that only he and I knew the truth about her…like us knowing was enough, like it didn’t matter that she was hurting _me_.”

Oh, God. Had he said that to her? He had. Oh, God, he had.

He opened his mouth to explain, the words, “Marinette, I’m so sorry. Please, please forgive me. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know she had threatened you. I didn’t realize she was hurting you; otherwise, I never ever would have said that. You have to believe me. I’m going to do better now. I swear to you,” on the tip of his tongue.

But then his braincells started to kick into gear, and he realized that she would not be happy if she knew that he’d figured out her identity. She would be doubly displeased if he revealed his identity to her. Where did that leave him?

As Chat Noir, on a rooftop, comforting his partner, listening as a completely uninvolved third party to how some other guy had screwed up. He could swing that.

“I’m sorry, Ladybug,” he whispered, pulling her back in, pressing her to him and nuzzling her hair gently. “I’m sorry you feel so alone. I’m sorry I failed you.”

“You haven’t failed me, Chat Noir,” she insisted, not fighting his embrace. “And it’s okay, really. I’m just super wiped today. It’s been rough lately. It’s been…It’s been a lot. A lot to handle the past few months. I’m just not adapting well right now, but I’ll be okay.”

He didn’t believe her.

Marinette was a force to be reckoned with, but she was underwater with all the projects she constantly piled on her plate. He couldn’t imagine her juggling all of that on top of her superhero duties. She must be completely exhausted.

Chat Noir and Adrien needed to step up.

“I know there’s not a lot I can do, My Lady. Not concrete things, but at the very least I can be there for you to talk to. I never want you to feel like you’re alone. You’ve always got me, so…if you ever need to call and talk, no matter how late or early it is…” he stressed.

She pulled back to frown. “But…I don’t have your number, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to trade the numbers for our civilian phones, Chaton.”

Chat had the grace to blush as he confessed, “I actually set up my com to forward calls to my phone so that I’d never miss a call from you, so…I’m sure Tikki could help you route calls from your regular phone to my com. I mean, if you’d want to talk to me when you’re upset,” he added sheepishly in case he was getting ahead of himself.

“Oh, Chat Noir,” she laughed softly, giving his bell a flick. “I’d…I’d actually like that a lot. I feel like I can’t count on any of my friends right now, so I’ve been eating lunch alone and skipping out on group events, and it’s been really lonely. If I could call you over lunch or when the rest of my friends are hanging out together…that would be really great. Thank you.”

A wide grin broke out on his lips. Something akin to a lunch date with Ladybug had been his dream come true for months now. “Really?” he chuckled happily, unable to believe his luck.

She nodded. “Yeah. I could really use a friend right now, so…it’ll be nice to hear your voice. You always cheer me up.”

He could feel his cheeks burning in pride and pleasure. “I’m really looking forward to this.”

Suddenly, a thought hit him, and his face fell. “Oh. But…I’m sorry. There’s something you should know. I’m kind of…uh…” He looked away. “…overscheduled most of the time, so I can’t promise I’ll always be able to answer, but when I can’t pick up right away, I’ll call you back just as soon as I can. Please don’t get discouraged or think I’m not serious about being there for you if I don’t pick up all the time.”

Ladybug nodded. “That’s okay. I totally understand, Chat Noir, so don’t worry. I know I can count on you.”

The way she said it carried the implication that he was the only one she could count on, and it broke his heart.

He pulled her in tight once more, whispering, “I love you.”

She gasped, going still in his arms.

“I don’t just mean that romantically,” he explained. “My Lady, you’re one of my dearest friends, and I care about you so, so much. I love you on a lot of different levels. You’re so important to me.”

She softened, relaxing against him. “I love you too, Chat Noir. I don’t even have the words to tell you how much you mean to me.”

He pressed a platonic kiss to the top of her head and vowed to do better in the future.

He’d be there for Ladybug on the phone and Marinette in the evenings on her balcony as Chat Noir, and he’d be there for Marinette during the day as Adrien.

He hadn’t fully understood the situation, and so he’d messed up in the past, but he was determined to get it right going forward. Marinette wasn’t going to feel alone and unsupported anymore. He was going to put his all into making her feel loved, appreciated, and valued. He was going to make things right.

They sat like that, snuggling for maybe half an hour in relative silence. The early summer air wasn’t yet hot enough to make it uncomfortable to hang on each other, and Chat and Ladybug were both enjoying the warmth and solidity of one another.

Ladybug had even begun to doze off.

“I think it’s time for you to head home,” Chat sighed, not relishing the thought of separation. “Can I go with you as far as Notre Dame?”

“What makes you think I live over that way?” Ladybug hummed curiously.

Chat pursed his lips. “Well…it’s a pretty central location, so…doesn’t everyone technically live not too far from Notre Dame? All things considered?”

She gave a snort and shook her head. “Race you to the South Tower.”

“Marinette!” Sabine called up from the kitchen the following morning. “Adrien’s here to walk with you to school! Come and eat breakfast with him!”

Marinette nearly fell on her face as she stepped into her jeans. She was certain she had either misheard or was still dreaming, but even after she’d pinched herself, Adrien Agreste was sitting at her kitchen table when she descended the stairs to the living area.

“Good morning,” he greeted shyly, rubbing at the back of his neck with one hand as he waved at her. “Sorry for arriving unannounced. I—uh…I brought you a flower.”

He motioned to a pink rose sitting on the counter next to the fruit bowl in one of Sabine’s glass, single-stem vases.

Marinette blinked. “Uh…Good morning. Wow. It’s lovely, Adrien. Thank you.”

He got up and pulled out the kitchen stool across from his for her. “Sorry for crashing your breakfast too. Your mother insisted I eat something.”

“Thank you,” Marinette repeated as she sat down and he pushed her chair in, careful with the placement of his hands. “It’s okay. No worries. Maman and Papa are like that. We’re a household that firmly believes in feeding people. I don’t mind the company at all.”

“Oh,” he chuckled nervously as he retook his seat. “Good. I mean, that’s what your mother said too, but…” He paused, biting his lip and looking down at the slice of baguette with butter and jam that Sabine had prepared for him. He took a breath and looked back up to meet her eyes. “Sorry. I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to see me, so I was a little worried about just showing up here.”

Marinette frowned, searching his face intently. “Adrien, why wouldn’t I want to see you?”

Adrien grimaced. “I…haven’t been a very good friend to you lately.”

“What? No, Adrien,” she started to protest, but he held up a hand to stop her.

“No, I haven’t,” he insisted. “I’ve been really busy with work, and I haven’t been making time for you. I’m sorry, Marinette.”

A merry-go-round of emotions whirled across her face. She was touched and glad of his apology, but he could tell that, even if she forgave him for his failings, she was still hurt.

“Thank you,” Marinette answered at last, picking out a banana from the fruit dish and starting on her own piece of baguette. “I really appreciate that you even thought to think about me, but it’s not like you owe me anything, Adrien. I understand that you’re busy and that you don’t really have much control over that.”

“No, but…I’ve decided that I need to do something about that. I’m going to do better going forward,” he promised.

She nodded, unsure as to why he was addressing this proclamation to her. “I’m happy to hear that you’re going to start standing up for yourself more.”

“Not just myself,” he informed gently. “You too.”

Marinette blinked. “Me?”

“Yes. I…First, I need to apologize because I’m too little too late on this, but, last night, I realized I’ve really screwed up,” he explained. “I happened to read something about bullying.”

Marinette tensed. “Bullying?”

Adrien nodded. “I’ve only been in school for a year, so I’m still figuring out how informal social interactions are supposed to go. I don’t always understand what’s normal or not normal and how people are supposed to act. There are a lot of things that I’ve never dealt with before, so…I’m not trying to excuse the way I acted, but I just want you to know why I handled the whole Lila situation the way I did.”

Marinette paled, suddenly becoming fascinated with her meal. She took a big bite of baguette.

“Last night, reading about bullying, it was really eye-opening. I did a lot of research, and the more I learned, the more stories and articles I read, the more sick I felt because the things I was reading reminded me of you, and when I thought that maybe you felt some of the things the people in those articles felt…I wanted to cry.” Even then, tears were starting to prick at his eyes. “It was three in the morning, and I almost called you. I feel awful.”

She looked up tentatively and noted that he did, indeed, look grief-stricken. It was kind of nice. Usually she was the only one who was a wreck.

She wasn’t really sure what to say, though.

He kept going. “I’m really sorry. I never should have told you that Lila wasn’t hurting anybody so it didn’t matter if other people knew the truth about her. I was wrong—totally, utterly, stupidly, dangerously wrong, Marinette. I didn’t realize she was hurting _you_.”

Slowly, tears started to slide down Marinette’s cheeks.

He got up and went around the table to wrap his arms around her from the side. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m going to make sure she never hurts you again. I swear. I’m going to become her unofficial factchecker, and I’m going to tell everyone when she’s lying.

“My whole life I’ve been trained not to make a scene, not to upset others, not to make waves, but I’m through with that. I’m through letting her slide, Marinette. I promise you. You’re not alone. I’m not leaving you to fight this by yourself anymore. No matter what, I’m going to be by your side, and we’re going to put an end to this.”

Marinette slid off of her stool, slipping her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest. She couldn’t find her voice to respond, so she just squeezed him harder.

“Shh,” he soothed, one hand starting to rub up and down her back while the other went to play with her hair, still down and loose. “It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to fail you again, Marinette. I know I haven’t done anything to inspire confidence in me yet, but I’m going to prove to you that you can rely on me.”

“Thanks,” Marinette finally managed to whisper.

After breakfast, they walked to school together, Adrien escorting Marinette to her locker and keeping watch for Lila while she gathered her books.

Marinette opened her locker door and gave a little gasp of surprise when she found the Venetian lace a secret admirer had left for her.

They made their way to the classroom where someone had left a sunflower at Marinette’s seat.

Adrien lied to Nathalie about a school project that he needed to work on with his group all week during lunch and took Marinette to a nearby Japanese fusion restaurant that Adrien had always wanted to try.

After school, Adrien walked Marinette home, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek as they parted. “Hang in there, okay? I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow…if that’s okay?”

“That would be marvelous,” she laughed, feeling like she was walking on air. “I’ve been spending a lot of time alone lately, so it was really great to have some company today. Thanks, Adrien.”

“It was the least I could do,” he assured. “Besides, I really enjoyed the company too.”

With a Chat Noir salute, he turned and headed for his waiting car, feeling a small swell of triumph in his chest.

When Marinette went up to her balcony, she found a vase of fragrant stargazer lilies and a bolt of hot pink silk from her secret admirer.

That night, she watched the sun set from her balcony and didn’t really feel the urge to go for a run.

She didn’t anticipate that this would continue, but, surprisingly, it did.

Little presents were scattered here and there throughout her day. Sometimes it was a flower or a pretty rock or synthetic feathers or fabric scraps or beads or thread or a little note that said, “Smile!” or “Your hair looks awesome today”.

Adrien picked her up in the mornings and ate lunch with her when he could. When he couldn’t, she nearly always got a surprise call from Chat Noir for Ladybug.

Chat Noir came over a couple nights a week, and either Adrien or Chat would call on the weekends when there was a group activity that Marinette didn’t feel comfortable going to.

Slowly, over the months, more of her old friends started to reach out to Marinette for solo or small group activities. They apologized for not believing Marinette about Lila’s lies. They still didn’t seem to know about the bullying, and they didn’t seem mad at Lila because apparently the girl had some rare medical problem that made her lie sometimes which, obviously, couldn’t be held against Lila (Marinette could still not believe that people actually bought that excuse).

It was sort of okay, though. Adrien had been going around behind Lila’s back and factchecking her like he’d promised, and people slowly stopped being so credulous. They didn’t fawn over Lila quite so much anymore.

By the fall, Marinette was even starting to attend class events again, so long as Adrien was there at her side (most of the time literally with an arm around her waist), keeping a lookout, making sure Lila couldn’t sneak up on her or catch her alone.

Gradually, things were getting better. Slowly, Marinette could feel herself healing.

One night in November, Marinette and Chat Noir were snuggling out on her balcony, and he was pointing out the limited number of stars visible against the light pollution of the city, explaining the myths behind the constellations.

Marinette took a deep breath. “Adrien?”

Chat Noir froze where he was nestled up against her side, and she knew that she was right.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He melted, pulling her close and peppering her hair with kisses. “I love you too, Marinette…My Lady.”

Marinette sighed in defeat but quickly shrugged it off. “I thought so. You figured it out when I told you about Lila bullying me, didn’t you?”

Chat nodded. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she assured, smiling as she peered up at him, cupping his jaw. “Nothing bad has happened yet. Actually, you figuring me out and stepping in with the Lila situation probably saved me a hundred times over. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you know.”

“I’ve certainly thought of it as a good thing,” Chat weighed in. “It was a load off my mind finding out you were the same person so that I only had to worry about one of you instead of two…and it was nice to know that I was only in love with one person.”

“Oh, Minou,” Marinette giggled, feeling lighter than air. “You say the sweetest things.”

“I learned from the best: anime,” he teased, causing her to laugh harder.

“Detransformation,” he whispered, and the suit faded away to reveal Adrien Agreste: cheeks rosy and eyes sparkling. “So…how did you find out?”

“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure until just now,” she answered honestly. “It was more just a feeling. You two felt the same. During the day I was with Adrien at school, but if he had to miss lunch, Chat Noir would call, and then, in the evenings, Chat Noir would come over, and it was just…like a continuation of what I’d had with Adrien. It was the same energy, the same feeling when I was with the both of you. You made me feel the same way.”

“So either you were in serious trouble or we were the same person,” Adrien chuckled. “I see how it is.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Marinette groaned, nuzzling his collarbone. “Some nights when we’d be talking on the phone, I’d get really sleepy, and I’d forget which one I was talking to. Your voices sounded the same, and you both said the same kinds of things. I just thought…there was no way you weren’t the same person.”

“It sounds like we both got lucky because we are, indeed, only two people instead of four…though, I wouldn’t mind a cuddle pile with Ladybug, Chat Noir, Marinette, and Adrien,” he added thoughtfully.

Marinette considered this for a moment until her face was so red she feared it might explode.

“…May I kiss you?” Adrien whispered so softly, his breath barely stirred her hair.

Marinette let out a soft gasp. “R-Really?”

Adrien chuckled, and it was a beautiful sound. “Really, really. I mean…isn’t that what people do after confessing their love for one another?”

“Yes,” she stated with conviction. “That is definitely what happens next.”

“Good.” Adrien could barely contain his laughter. “I would hate to do it wrong.”

Marinette tipped her chin up, and Adrien met her halfway, the both of them chuckling as their lips found one another’s.

The

End

**Author's Note:**

> And they lived happily ever after with a nice house in the sixteenth arrondissement and three kids. Marinette became a famous designer, Adrien went into acting, and Lila eventually got caught doing something illegal and was sent to prison. Yay!
> 
> Anyway. What did you think? I hope you liked it. This was kind of cathartic for me. In my first year of uni, I was bullied and lost all my friends and spent a lot of time alone and afraid of running into the people who were tormenting me. I doubt that they'll go to this extreme in canon, but I can see something like this happening based on Marinette's situation in the show. I hope they clear things up soon and Marinette can get the love and support she needs.
> 
> Anyway. Let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Again, my Tumblr: https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/


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